I am too shocked to breathe: a case of Laurocerasus

by Laurie Dack

This is the case of an eight year old girl,
one of twins. She is completely
different from her brother, who is robust, big and strong; G. is small,
delicate and frail. She comes for asthma and perhaps allergies. She is continually
sighing and gasping for air. Her mother, when describing her daughter, gives a
big sigh, too. She tells about her daughter’s first episode of breathlessness,
which happened when the girl’s father put her on the grass when she was small.
She fell over – it was a small incident but she went limp, couldn’t be roused
and her breathing was shallow. She was
gasping for air and was icy cold. It looked as though she had been stung by a
bee, but there was no anaphylaxis. The doctors suggested a possible cardiac
insufficiency, noting a small heart murmur. The parents were always “holding
their breath” around her, fearing she could die. Heart medication was
prescribed.

On observing the girl one saw a tiny, almost translucent child who hardly
moved; it was almost as though one could put hands right through her. She was hospitalised on three different
occasions for minor events, each time with shallow breathing and lifelessness.
Her mother noted that it happened suddenly and unexpectedly each time: “I turn
my head and she is gone – she goes for up to 15 minutes.” She was quickly
revived, though. She plays, and then is suddenly unable to catch her breath, as
though suffocating. She collapses and wilts to the floor as though fainting
suddenly. She does not react to
anything, does not fuss and does not burst into tears, although she is
delicate. She does not scream like her much bigger brother.

“How was the pregnancy?” G.’s mother heaved a big sigh. “I became pregnant out
of the blue. We had only been together for three weeks. I almost died when I
realised I was pregnant – it was a real shock. I wanted to run away. I didn’t
know whether to tell the father or not, we hardly knew each other. I could
hardly breathe. It pierced all the plans I had made for my life. We were in a
bubble of being in love. I wanted to race out of my life as soon as possible. I
fled to Costa Rica,
but of course you can’t escape. I had so many plans, high ideals. It would have
been a huge shock for my mother. I thought of all the things I would be giving
up. I was so anxious about telling her, it took my breath away. It was like
being pinched or pricked. I hoped I might miscarry and I went into a deep depression.
I wanted to isolate myself, like I usually do when I’m depressed. I felt so stupid
– how could I have done this? How can I achieve my ideals? The sharp pains took
my breath away. I became sleepless, and
had disturbed sleep and many dreams:
dreams of being high up on a weak scaffolding where everything could
collapse. Dreams of losing my boyfriend if I told him I was pregnant. The next
shock: discovering I was to have twins!!! I collapsed and needed oxygen. It was
as if everything was pressing in on me, inward, heavy. Now I had to tell
people, but how could I tell my mother?

“Why was it so hard to tell your mother?”
“She had become unexpectedly pregnant with me, I changed the course of her
life. I’ve never known my father. But she overcame her initial shock and was
helpful and supportive of me. My partner was shocked, but he has reluctantly
decided to stay with me and the kids. Our daughter and her illness keep us all
together.

My mother died just before the twins
were born; it was an inconceivable grief for me. She was young and in good
health, there was no warning. I was so upset, I couldn’t breathe. She was the
only person in my life. A terrible sadness pierces everything, even through the
lovely moments with the children. When she was cremated I couldn’t breathe. It
was a though the walls were coming in. I still see her sliding into the flames.
I feel the weight pushing down, like I
had pushed the button myself and she was spit into the fire. I used to be very
afraid of being pushed under water – “you can’t breathe, it’s a heavy weight.”

“How was the birth?” “I was devastated,
sad at the loss of my mother, barely alive. I was certainly not in a state to
give birth to twins. My son came out healthy and I was relieved that it was
over. But I had to do it all over again! G. did not come out for a long time;
it was like painful needles piercing upwards. Thoughts of my mother kept
filling me, seeing her shooting into the fire. I didn’t have the strength to
push G. out. Labour stopped and I
blacked out. She was born tiny and blue, she needed resuscitation. We all held
our breath.”

Analysis: There is a clear line
between the grandmother, the mother and the child: both G. and her
mother tended to hold their breaths and collapse, and both the mother and
grandmother had become pregnant out of wedlock, with the possibility (or fact)
of thereby losing one’s partner. Both of these situations point to
Laurocerasus, of the rose family. Rubrics: collapse, cyanosis in
infants, faintness, lack of reaction, gasping – lying ameliorates , respiration
sighing, respiration difficult in heart complaints. Pregnancy: ailments form
death of a parent. Forsaken. Sadness, respiration impeded. Dreams of fire,
delusion sees fire. Dreams of scaffolding. Pains: stitching, shooting,
pinching. Delusion suffocating. Birth: cyanosis in infants. Blue babies. Faintness
with pain.Prescription: Laurocerasus 1M
The sensation of the rose family is: pinching, pressing, compressed. The passive
reaction to the situation is: collapse. Laurocerasus belongs to the leprosy
miasm of rose family. Phatak writes: “long lasting faints. Affects from fright.
Asphyxia neonatorum”.
A case is sometimes like a microcosm of a much bigger picture. This girl’s
favourite toy was Russian dolls – one doll within another, like her and her
mother and grandmother.Follow-upAfter two months: no more emergencies.
In the course of the next four years, G. has made significant progress. There
have been no more episodes of loss of consciousness, and no need for hospitalisation.
She has begun to play well and to eat more, putting on weight and engaging with
the world (in her mother’s words). Her mother describes her as “coming into
herself, incarnating”. She has had no
signs of asthma, although she has twice had bronchitis bordering on pneumonia
in the fall/winter – at these times she has responded very well to Laurocerasus 1M. These days she is a happy, healthy little
girl. At school, she can “hold her own”,
as her mother says, able to deal with the bumps and bruises of day to day life.
In the course of four years, she has received four doses of Laurocerasus 1M.
Her mother has also come for treatment, and has also been given Laurocerasus, with good results.

It seems a book picture case. Even with clear presentation of the plant family rosaceae. I had prescribed prunus spinosa to one of my patient
who described his colic as pinching and suffocating.
He even described it like a weight in the chest.
It belongs to the malarial miasm. It is a good colicky remedy.

Posts: 2

Re:Reply #1 on : Sat December 01, 2012, 17:03:08

Thanks for the very clear case of laurocerasus, Laurie. It really helps to bring the book descriptions to life.